Nathan Mayer Rothschild

A lot has been said about the man, he is the most influential financial prodigy in history, having pioneer the bases for modern international investment tools, and strategies. One thing is true about how he and his family came to supernatural wealth, and it happened with the resolving of the Battle of Waterloo. A British author was sued for printing this story and won. This story, has far as I can tell, is true:
the Rothschild brothers had created the best information network in Europe, having bases in every major economic powerhouse of the time, they were able to trade information in order to make more intelligent (profitable) investment. One of his agents was at the battle of Waterloo, and at the end of an long battle, which started with a premature defeat of the British, reinforcement finally arrived and Wellington's troop finally beat Napoleon. Nathan's agent jumped on a small boat and made the short trip across the English Channel and made his way to London where he told Nathan of the news. Here some version of the stories varies, I picked this version: Nathan went the House of Commons to announce the news, the politicians didn't believe him. After all, the first news were about defeat, not victory, and what do they know about battle logistics. So Nathan went to the London Stock Exchange where he stood at "his" pillar and started giving his agents orders. They began selling. The rumor spread that Wellington was defeated and Nathan new about it. Prices started to plummet, the panic spread, and soon the prices were near zero. At that time Nathan slightly changed some of his signals, and his agents bought everything they could get their hands on. Couple days later the official news of Wellington's victory came through, and prices soared past where they were when Nathan began selling, making him the most successful trader ever to have lived and projected the Rothschild's wealth and influence to new heights.
At that time they were no laws to prevent market manipulations, every thing he did was perfectly legal. His attitude doesn't strike me as evil, merely ambitious and extraordinarily resourceful.
So I guess the question is: What happened?

"I care not what puppet is placed on the throne of England to rule the Empire, ...The man that controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire. And I control the money supply."
-Nathan Mayer Rothschild